The test squad for the Indian tour of Sri Lanka was announced recently, and while the team is largely as most expected it to be, with very few surprise inclusions and exclusions, there are a few players who may have felt hard done by their exclusion from the team. Here are 5 players who were unlucky to miss out:
1. Shikhar Dawan
Shikhar Dhawan has been out of the Test team for a while now, after a string of poor performance in the longest format. He has, however had a good tournament during the ICC Champions Trophy in England, and has started to look in good touch as of late, and will be feeling quite unlucky that he wasn’t given a chance to prove himself in the test team once again.
2. Parthiv Patel
Parthiv Patel has been in and around Indian cricket team for a very long period of time. In the grand home season 2016/17, Parthiv Patel replaced Wriddhiman Saha and made significant contributions with the bat. He showed very good technique and didn’t look out of place, not even for a moment. However, he was ignored by the selectors while picking the squad for the 5-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
3. Jayant Yadav
Jayant Yadav had a pretty decent debut series in the test arena, with a few wickets and a couple of fifties in the series against England. He has lost his place as the third spinner to Kuldeep Yadav, who has grabbed that for himself. Yadav looked like a good utility player, and had the ability to turn the ball well on subcontinent tracks, and is one who missed out.
4. Amit Mishra
Amit Mishra must have been disappointed to hear he wasn’t a part of the squad, given that he has been a part of the Indian test team for quite a few series now, and hasn’t been given a chance. He was a part of the last tour to Sri Lanka, South Africa and England, but wasn’t given a chance on any of these tours. He is a decent leg spinner with good variations, and was replaced by Kuldeep Yadav, who has grabbed the third spinner role for himself.
5. Karun Nair
Karun Nair became only the second Indian to score a triple century last year, and was surprisingly dropped in the next game for Ajinkya Rahane, and has since found it very hard to get back into the team, and he struggled against the Australians, with very poor scores in 4 innings, and this could have been a chance for him to get back into the fray and prove himself, but has been overlooked in favour of a more experienced and balanced squad.
By Aravind Harish
